This invention relates to an apparatus used in the recovery of precious metals from scrap materials, and more particularly to the recovery of gold, such as in the form of visible gold plate, from printed circuit board material and the like, and further wherein the gold is recovered in flake form without being dissolved.
Numerous devices have been proposed for handling, cleaning, rinsing, or otherwise processing scrap or other materials in order to recover or remove prescribed materials therefrom. The following U.S. patents are representative of the prior art known to the applicants in this area: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,944,607; 3,106,217; 3,122,150; 3,320,963; 3,327,721; 3,565,587; 3,776,800; 3,871,914; 3,909,291; 3,990,462; 3,999,564; and 4,209,342. Each of these referenced patents discloses a particular type of device that inclues some sort of processing tank, chamber, or cage wherein the material to be processed may be placed and exposed to a processing solution of some type of variety. Most of these devices further include provisions for shaking, vibrating, or otherwise agitating the material once it has been placed within the device. None of these disclosures, however, taken alone or in combination, show or suggest a compact, self-contained unit for efficiently recovering a precious metal, such as gold, from scrap material.
An additional patent known to applicants, U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,738, describes a process for recovering a precious metal, such as gold, from a bimetalic material. Unfortunately, the apparatus required to carry out the process disclosed in this patent is of the type which is only found in large, complex processing facilities. Moreover, the method itself is cumbersome and expensive to effectuate. It is apparent, therefore, that a need exists for a simple, easy-to-operate device that can be used to efficiently recover a prescribed precious metal from scrap or other material. Especially, with the present market value of gold, and with the relatively large amounts of printed circuit board scrap material in existance from which gold plating could be recovered, there is a definite need for an easy-to-operate, efficient, inexpensive method and apparatus directed to the recovery of such gold.
There is disclosed in a copending patent application assigned to the same assignee as is this application, Ser. No. 427,365, filed Sept. 29, 1982, Attorney Docket No. R/T-81-7, entitled "Gold Recovery Method", an improved method for recovering a precious metal, such as gold, from printed circuit board scrap material and the like. This "Gold Recovery Method" application is hereby incorporated by reference in this application. The present invention, in an attempt to fufill the identified need in the art, is directed towards an apparatus that efficiently incorporates the recovery method disclosed in the above referenced copending application.